Rangers of the Lost Car Park
by Stainless Steel Fox
Summary: First story in the Stainless-verse continuation of the series. A simple mission to retrieve a lost toy turns into a epic adventure, and a rematch against an old enemy of the Rangers. Another rip-off... homage to a certain action adventure saga.
1. Chapter 1

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Note: I think this is a prequel to 'The Donutters'. It didn't start that way but that seems to be how it's ended up. I hope no one is offended by any characters in this story. It is purely for enjoyment and not intended to cast nasturtiums at anyone.

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Orchestral version of Rescue Rangers theme tune starts, scored to march time.

Rangers of the Lost Car-park – Part 1

It was a lush jungle scene, succulents reaching up and lianas reaching down from trees. There was a gap through which a limpid pool was visible, with a many-threaded waterfall splashing down into it from a rocky cliff. The Rescue Rangers were hiking towards it, with Monterey Jack leading, slashing his way through the undergrowth with a paring knife, and Zipper sitting on his shoulder like a parrot. Dale was right up with him and on all fours, apparently following a scent, which meant the pith helmet he wore frequently slipped down over his ears. Gadget followed, and Chip bringing up the rear, acting as eyes behind.

As Monty chopped away an obscuring leaf, the waterfall became clearly visible, and the sign above it. 'Mega-Mall Jungle Food Court', '19:36'. The digital clock changed to 19:37 as they looked on. Now the general layout was clearer, a large three story area with balconies and tables and chairs on each level. Planters on the edge of each balcony continued the tropical theme with hanging plants and palms, and the escalator railings were cladded with polished bamboo. Dozens of closed food outlets dotted the walls of the lowest level. The centre-piece was the tropical garden with the one story waterfall. The whole place was dimly lit, as only a few of the lights on the domed glass ceiling were active.

Monty held up a paw in a 'halt' signal as they came out alongside the pool. "Alroight, mates, this is the place those thieving grasshopper mice musta came to." Zipper buzzed his agreement.

Dale looked up and around. "Yup. The smell of day old junk food is strong here. But it doesn't go any further."

"Golly, it's really nice here. Peaceful." Gadget added.

Chip, his voice low, stated, "It'll get un-peaceful quick, if they figure out we're here and trying to take back their 'god'."

Gadget looked up at the digital clock. "Well, we only have 1 hour and 23 minutes, 42 seconds, minus the time it just took me to say that… well of course I said more than 'that'… but scratch that. If the Digi-pet doesn't get fed by then it will expire. And that poor kid is so attached to it..."

"So the question is, where did they stash it?" Chip was prowling around the green verge, looking for clues. The fake plastic grass didn't take footprints, so there was no way of telling which way they had gone. The grass went up to the waterfall, and down to where the pool ended in rocks. He looked into the churning water at the base of the falls, hoping it would give some clue… It did. The foaming water underneath didn't churn outwards as expected. He plucked a blade of plastic grass and tossed it in to the falls to confirm his hypothesis.

"Look guys! The grass disappears under the waterfall. I'm betting there's some kind of gap behind it."

"Probably a channel leading to the pump intake for the waterfall." mused Gadget.

Chip tied the free end of his grappling line around his waist. "Only one way to find out…" He handed the coil to Monty, and moved into the waterfall along a ledge. After a few seconds they heard, "It's okay, there's a path."

Behind the waterfall it was almost dark, but waxed match torches soon took care of that. The interior of the tunnel was two-foot square, and made of brick, the 'rock' exterior having obviously being moulded out of concrete. It was half flooded with water, an overflow from the pool. Along one edge of the channel, a gantry of straws, drinking straws to be precise, had been constructed, and the brick wall beside it was decorated with inscriptions and pictographs in reds and whites and yellows and dark browns.

Dale examined them, leaning out from the path. "Wowie zowie! Real hieroglyphics, and lower-aglyphics too! Dried ketchup..." he sniffed, "French Mustard, Mayo and soy sauce!"

"Golly, it must be their entire history," said Gadget, holding up her torch to illuminate it.

"Well one wrong move Gadget-luv, and we'll be history." Monty said, pointing over the side of the narrow drinking straw gantry to the fast flowing waters below, which flowed into the unknown up ahead. "We fall in there and we'll be goners."

"Aw C'mon Monty, I'm just interested. I always wanted to know what they mean in those late, late shows by 'historical sauces.'" Dale explained, but stopped leaning out.

"Enough goofing off!" Chip stated, still leading the way, checking ahead of him each step.

The tunnel opened out into a bigger chamber, almost a room. As far as their limited light sources could show, pumping gear and sealed electronics sat on a metal grid platform on the far side, and there was the suggestion of a human sized access panel behind it, though no handle or lever for it. Water filled the bottom of the room; the level being about a foot lower than the bottom of the channel they'd come through, so the foot deep water of the channel cascaded into it.

The straw gantry extended in a bridge spanning several feet of open space, and clearly designed for grasshopper mice, less than half the size of Gadget. It led to a barely visible central vertical pipe, presumably sucking in the water from below. It had a thick bundle of control cabling running up the outside, forming a path that was slippery with condensation, but climbable.

They carefully made their way across the bridge, spread out to distribute the weight, except for Zipper. He buzzed away into the darkness at the far end of the room and after a few seconds the place was illuminated by a couple of halogen bulbs as he found a switch by the access panel. Now they could see that up in the roof, there was a hole about 6 inches square, offset diagonally from where the big pipe entered, and another drinking straw bridge leading across to it.

Chip was inspecting every inch of the bridge as he climbed across it. "Careful... There could be traps."

Dale bounced on ahead, bypassing the chipmunk in the fedora. "Aw, C'mon Chip, that sorta thing only happens in movieeeeeees!" The last section of bridge opened underneath him like a trapdoor, dropping him through.

"Dale!" yelled Chip, then bounded forward, diving after him. He caught Dale's shoulders a fraction of a second before he plunged into the cold water, and was sucked down into the undertow around the pipe. Monty set himself and pulled on the line that was still attached to Chip, stopping their fall. Gadget and Zipper caught hold of the back end of the thread and helped haul the chipmunks back onto the bridge.

Chip said in annoyed tone. "I guess they watch the same movies, lame-brain! Next time you may not be so lucky. "

A couple of seconds work from Gadget and Zipper and the trapdoor was disabled. They made their way up the spiral and across the second bridge without further incident. They entered the hole in the roof, which turned out to be a steep tunnel leading upwards. He held his torch aloft. It was covered in more symbols, some of them based on human warning signs for hazards and shocks.

"Wonder what this place is was built for... whoa!" He pointed down at where the floor turned from brick to fragments of dark tile. He got down and firked up a section to reveal hard packed sand underneath. He looked along the line of the floor. "Gadget, what do you make of this?"

Gadget got down beside him and ran her hand over the sand. "Well, considering how the sand is packed, and the consistency of the grains, I could make a sand castle, if we removed the tile…"

"That's not what I meant. This looks like it could conceal traps."

She dug down with a paw. "Hmm... there is enough depth for mouse traps." She stuck her torch in the sand and looked along the surface as Chip had done. "Yes, see those slight bumps? I bet they're triggers. Not a problem, as long as you don't put pressure on them."

They chalk marked around each bump, and navigated across the mouse traps. Beyond, the tunnel opened out into a foot square chamber with a metal roof, another access hatch. On the far wall was a large pipe mouth that looked decidedly sinister. Scattered around the chamber were dozens of bits and pieces, mechanical toys and plastic models that had come with kiddie meals, all displayed as part of some primitive potlatch art collection. And in the place of honour, on top of a large plastic electrical housing sat the object they were looking for, the Digi-pet.

It was a golden plastic box about an inch and a half square, and the fox-squirrel creature on the LCD screen was making a whining noise. Chip stepped up to it, reaching out. "Looks like we got here just in time…"

Gadget squeaked, "NO!" and Chip stopped, wincing. The mouse engineer continued, "Golly, I'm sorry, but moving it might have caused certain problems."

"What kinda problems, Gadget-luv?" Monty asked, a fraction of a second before the others.

"Well, with breathing for example, then there would be the falling from a great height and going splat into the iron grid on the machine level, if I have the angle of descent calculated correctly. You see, they placed the Digi-pet box on the manual release switch for the reservoir that feeds the waterfall. That's what this tunnel is, the drain for the tank. Unfortunately, they pushed in the switch and it latched. Remember the cheese trap back at my bomber? Same idea. Release the pressure, it will pop out and open the valve." She pointed at the pipe.

Chip nodded. "I see. So we need to keep pressure on it until we replace the Digi-pet with something else that weighs the same."

Dale piped up, "Neato! This is just like the temple scene in 'Louisianna James and the Idol of Babylon.'"

"More or less." Chip looked around, "Okay, we'll gather stuff from around here. Gadget, figure out how to put it together." He untied his line and started helping put things in a pile.

In moments they had a big bundle of things tied with string. Monty hefted it, while Dale had his arms around the Digi-pet. Chip had his paws on the switch, ready to keep the pressure on.

"Okay… on three… one, two, three!" Dale whisked the Digi-pet away as Monty slid the bundle on. Chip waited a second, then carefully pulled his paws away. He sighed with relief as the switch stayed where it was.

Dale pressed the 'feed' and 'cuddle' buttons on the device and the pet perked up momentarily. But then a battery low indicator lit up. "Uh oh… Gadget? There's something wrong…"

Gadget gave it a quick once over. "Gosh, water must have seeped into the battery compartment when they brought it through the waterfall. I can find a replacement battery, and change it without loosing power, but only once we're back at my workshop."

"Great, then let's get outta here!" Chip exclaimed. "I don't like the fact that a balanced weight is all that stands between us and watery doom…" He lead the way out of the chamber and back down the passage.

"Oh, I used a knot of my own invention to secure it. It should hold together indefinitely, with no problems…" Gadget said brightly.

There was a massed panicked expression from the rest of the Rangers as there was a creaking noise from behind them. Gadget continued. "Of course, I had to use what string I could find, and I'm not entirely sure it was the best quality."

This statement was followed by a disconcerting snap. "Run!" Chip yelled, suiting actions to words. They headed down the tunnel at a run, hopping the marked out traps. Well everyone except Dale, who was carrying the digi-pet strapped to his back. Being in last place he pelted straight through, setting off the traps behind him.

Water started flowing under their feet, and the gurgling sound from behind warned of more to come. Chip saw up ahead that the water had pushed the bridge end free of the hole, leaving a big gap between them and the central pipe. "Uhoh… Grab on guys!" He pulled out his grappling line and let out the free end to the Rangers. He popped open the bobby pin hook, sighted on the pipe, ahead and off to one side, and cast his line.

The main flow of water came down the tunnel, shooting out to pour in a waterfall onto the grid below. Fortunately Dale running into the others had pushed the Rangers out into midair, and since they were holding Chip's line, they swung away around the main pipe, avoiding the high pressure jet of water that would certainly have wrecked the difgi-pet, and possibly them. The line coiled round it like a ribbon round a maypole, depositing them safely on the spiral of cable around the pipe. Zipper flew up alongside Monty, and landed on his shoulder, buzzing a sigh of relief.

It was momentary. The grip of the grapple was none too secure and this was just enough weight to free it. They started sliding down the pipe like a helter skelter. They slid all the way down, and scooted across the lower bridge before they could overload the trapdoor. They skidded to a stop about half way across, and their combined weight caused the bridge to bow alarmingly.

Gadget said, "Don't worry guys! I have the perfect answer to this problem." She dropped something over the side just before the bridge came adrift. They dropped onto a just inflated raft made from a hot water bottle. It even had a Rescue Ranger logo on it.

Chip patted the raft underneath him and shook his head. "How do you carry something like this around?" He asked Gadget.

"Practice!" she replied brightly, tying together the remains of a bridge section as paddles. They paddled their way across to the channel, which was still cascading water into the main chamber. "Don't worry, the water levels will equalise, and then we can float out." she said.

"I'd prefer not to wait that long." Chip said, "When the waterfall outside stops, it'll get noticed."

"Too late, Chippah!" exclaimed Monty, pointing at the broken off end of the bridge. There stood a dozen grasshopper mice, clad in bright paper towel kirtles and split drinking straw head-dresses. They also carried a number of weighted toothpick spears and wickedly sharpened spork boomerangs.

Dale yelled, "I know what to do!" and held the digi-pet aloft. At this the grasshopper mouse started shaking their spears and yelling in infuriated voices.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" yelled Chip.

"Well, I thought they'd all bow down and worship it, like in 'Idol of Babylon'."

"Gadget, if you have a fast getaway mode on this thing, now would be the time to use it!" Chip said rapidly. Then he remembered the way Monty's dad had done it.. "One that doesn't involve sinking and half drowning that is."

"Can do! I made some improvements." She pulled a string, and holes opened in the underside and stopper. Water hit the super concentrated baking soda in the cavities, and the bottle jumped into the air like a hovercraft and zipped forward over the lip of the channel, getting out of the way just as the grasshopper mice stopped waving spears and started throwing them. "I call it the hover-raft."

They shot down the channel, which was lined with more of the tribe. Fortunately at first the hover-raft was mostly above their level, and both spear and boomerang simply stuck into the underside, or bounced off. But as they reached the entrance and the dying waterfall, the vertical thrust exhausted itself and the hover-raft flumped into the water, though still going at a rate of knots.

Zipper took off with a bugle call, and buzzed the tribes-mice along the bank, distracting some of them. This was a particularly brave act as insects were their primary food source. But he evaded thrusting spear and sweeping spork with equal dexterity. Gadget launched a couple of net plungers from her crossbow in support, and Monty swept a group into the water with a well placed paddle. Chip and Dale guided the boat. Chip stated, "At the far end, hide the digi-pet and head for the Rangerwing. I'll distract them. Swing by and pick me up."

"But Chip…!" Dale disagreed.

"No time…" They bumped against the far end and the raft flipped forward, dropping them onto the edge of the diorama. They bounded off and onto the floor, Chip one way, the other Rangers the other. He ripped a section from a discarded Burger Knight carton en passant and folded it so the yellow lettering was visible. Then he headed at full speed towards the nearest soda counter, holding the cardboard so it was just visible from behind.

A swarm of tribes-mice appeared at the edge of the jungle, shouting and gesticulating. They ignored the larger group and started hurling more spears at Chip, who by this time had enough of a lead that they all fell short. They swarmed after him, but by this time Chip was at the base of the counter, and going up it as if jet propelled, with the aid of his trusty bobby pin grapnel.

Chip hauled himself over the top and saw what he'd hoped for. He jumped up and switched on the machine. A few of the tribes-mice had been flung ahead on catapult driven card gliders, but only one was flung high enough to glide all the way to the counter. He jumped down, screaming a battle-cry and brandishing twin spork kukris with which he started a dazzling display of blindingly fast moves which would quail the most skilled combatant.

Chip didn't seem daunted. Maybe the pistol style drinks dispenser he was shouldering like a rocket launcher had something to do with it. Goosh! The tribes-mouse was flung off the counter on a spray of vanilla milkshake, to land on the padding of a nearby seat. Chip stepped up to the edge of the counter to overlook the main body of tribes-mice, spread out between the counter and diorama. The nearest were doused as Chip waved the stream back and forth, knocking down any mouse who managed to get back up.

Another glider threatened to over-fly and was quickly diverted with a spray of milky goodness. But others were rising, and some of the tribes-mice had reached the base of the counter. A half dozen heroes reached the counter top, and Chip started them down as he targeted them with the nozzle and fired. It produced a feeble little stream that reached only halfway to him before hitting the counter. Chip gave a cheesy grin and shrug, and dropped the drink dispenser. He kicked up the pair of spork kukris left by the first attacker into his paws, and hoped he could keep them off him for long enough.

'Long enough' turned out to be about two seconds. There was a sudden blaze of light from behind him as the Rangerwing rose up from behind the counter. "C'mon, Chip-lad!" yelled Monty from the co-pilot's position as it zoomed overhead, trailing a matchstick rope ladder. Chip dropped the kukris and grabbed on as it rose away, spears and boomerangs trailing. One boomerang clipped the rope ladder near the top, but that was the nearest anything came.

"Is everything alright?" he called as he started to climb up.

Dale was the one at the top of the ladder. "Well, we gotta get the digi-pet to Gadget's workshop as fast as possible, but every thing else is fine… Chip, sorry about the whole 'idol' thing…"

Chip was feeling slightly guilty about how he'd reacted, especially as Dale was apologising. It wasn't long in the past that he'd sworn to be a better leader. Dale was seeing Foxglove regularly, and Chip spending time in Gadget's workshop, learning more about mechanisms, and the amazing mouse who built them. One of their major points of conflict was slowly disintegrating, and both of them seemed the better for it. That didn't mean Dale didn't goof up occasionally, or Chip get didn't annoyed, as witness the incident on the bridge, but it was less likely to turn into a furball.

"Forget it, Dale. I might have tried it if I'd thought of it."

Gadget pulled down her goggles and called out, "We're heading out, and it's kind of windy, so hold onto your hats, well at least Chip and Monty should, because they have hats… Here we go!"

They were heading straight for one of the automatic doors. Gadget pressed a button on the dashboard, and the front flashlight went red and flickered, illuminating the infrared sensor at the top. It overrode the lock, opening the door just as the Rangerwing side-slipped down, to fly through on it's side.

The weather outside was dreadful. Towering clouds scudded across the darkening sky, and chilling winds sliced across the car park outside. The Rangerwing bucked and heeled, and it was all Chip could do to hold onto the ladder, let alone climb. Gadget brought the Rangerwing round to head towards the park, flying over a car park that was still under construction. She went lower to use the piles of sand and temporary buildings as cover, or at least that was the idea. However the winds didn't get any less violent, just more unpredictable.

One particularly violent updraft tossed the Rangerwing up like a paper bag, then dropped it like a rock, straining a rope ladder cable that was already weakened by the boomerang strike. It parted, letting one side of the ladder drop and weakening Chip's hold. Another errant gust finished the job, cracking the ladder like a whip and flipping him free to fall a couple of feet onto a sand pile. He tumbled down it, ending up half buried at the bottom.

"Ohmigosh! Chip!" yelled Dale. "Gadget! Monty! He's down and we gotta get down there too!"

The sand had cushioned the fall so Chip was unharmed, apart from sand in a few places he didn't want to talk about. He pulled himself to his feet as the Rangerwing swept round, and went to hover, or tried to. It was pitching and yawing so much, it was a wonder they weren't seasick. He thought quickly, and picked up a half buried scrap of paper, rolling it into a megaphone.

"What're you doing?" he yelled.

"We're coming down to pick you up mate!" replied Monty, who didn't need any vocal aid.

Chip shook his head and hollered. "No! You try landing in this crosswind and terrain, you'll tumble or crash! Get back to HQ and fix the digi-pet, or the mission's a failure. I'll be alright, I'll get round to the sign of the orange section car-park. You can come back for me when you're done."

For a moment, it looked like Gadget and Monty were going to try anyway, but a vicious eddy punctuated his last sentence, and they barely maintained control. As they ascended and switched to forward flight Monty called out.

"Alroight Chippah! We'll hop back here like a kangaroo with a dingo on it's tail! Zippah will stay with ya!"

Something dropped from the Rangerwing. It was Zipper, holding onto a large nut to stop from being blown away. As he got near the ground, he released it and zipped over into Chip's arms. He gave a little fanfare.

"Thanks, Zipper." Chip said, closing his jacket tight against the wind, and carrying the heroic fly nestled in the crook of one arm, sheltered from the worst of it. They made their way across the dunes, past monoliths of breeze blocks, heading back towards the brooding bulk of the mega-mall, outlined against the twilight evening sky.

They crossed a ridge between two high piles of sand, dotted with gravel and debris from the construction work. As they moved around a stuck up off cut of wood, the humming sound of an electric motor was heard. "I told them not to risk…" Chip stopped. This wasn't the twin hum of the Rangerwing's engines, this was a deeper, single purr, like a remote control car...

They couldn't quite believe what they saw next. A female mouse or small rat (it was hard to tell with the only illumination being the last light of sunset and the exterior lights of the mall) came into view round the side of the pile. She was running and looked exhausted, and with good reason. Following her a few seconds later was a scale model APC. It's spotlight slashed out and speared her.

A loudspeaker cried, "Atchung! Halten!" and it raced up, stopping inches away from her. A trio of hamsters, wearing forage caps and military style jackets, jumped out of the back and ran round to surround her. A fourth hamster with a peaked cap, in what had to be the drivers position, popped open an overhead hatch and stood up, covering her with some sort of spring loaded, but still effective looking scale pellet rifle.

The trio quickly tackled the female, restraining her. They brought her, though not without a struggle, to the driver, who was clearly in charge.

"So you thought you could eschcape, and take der secret vit you, fraulein? Vell, you thought wrong. Nothink will stop the plan of our glorious leader! You vill give it to us, or face der penalty." With that he raised the rifle to sight right between her eyes.

****

Ominous music – Station break!

Even while the hamster was speaking, Chip was acting. A glance to Zipper, and a pointed paw sent the fly towards the guy with the rifle. Chip himself scooped up two pieces of the pea gravel that was mixed with the sand, and stepped behind the piece of wood. A single kick brought it down, and he jumped on, hurling the first stone at the end of the rifle to knock it aside just as the hamster brought it to bear.

The startled hamster fired, and the pellet went zinging off into the darkness. Then he was beset by a small but violent buzzing hurricane as Zipper arrived with his flying fly fists of fury. The three guards holding the prisoner were hard pressed to see what was happening with the search light turned towards them. The one at the back never knew what hit him. Chip did, because he'd thrown it.

The one nearest to Chip finally looked towards him, but too late. Chip was sliding down the sand pile like a snowboarder, and flew off a minor outcropping to send his improvised sled right into the goons head. This hapless hamster hoodlum quickly discovered the 'Plank Constant', to wit, that when someone smacks you upside the noggin with a chunk of wood, you fall over in an unconscious heap.

The captive rat realised she had a chance to break free and took it, wrenching her arm away from the grip of the last guard, who turned to face the bigger threat, though Chip was a head shorter than either him or the escapee. Chip had picked up the plank and swung it, only to be intercepted by the hamster, who laid hold of the other end.

Chip responded first, letting go of his end and dropping underneath it. He shoved up with a paw, and the board flipped up like a fold away ironing board. It hit the bigger creature right between the eyes, and he fell over backwards to join his mates in sleepy land. With his opponents disabled, Chip looked to the APC, where Zipper was doing his favourite 'boot to the head' routine.

Already the hamster had his eyes closed against Zipper's strikes and was flailing away with the gun butt with as much enthusiasm as he lacked accuracy. Zipper actually caught the end of the weapon as it reached the end of one of it's swings and rode it like a bronco, waving an arm and buzzing a 'Yehaw!'.

When one particularly wild flail made the guy lean further than usual, Zipper hauled with all his strength and the leverage of the gun. He tipped the goon out of his cupola and onto the ground, dropping the released gun on his head to knock him out. He buzzed overhead, using 'mysterious fly senses' to check they were out of it, and would stay that way for some time.

He buzzed back to Chip, smirking and clasping his hands together over his head. The wind had died down, and it was quiet and still. The girl had disappeared.

"Nice move Zipper! Are they all good and out?"

"Zure are! Zo zwho were zoze guyz?"

Chip dropped down to examine one in the full glare of the search lights more closely. The uniform tunic was brown, with a red arm band which carried a circular insignia, a white circle with a face on it. "Huh? This is cuh-razy! Henrich von Sugarbottom? What has he got to do with them…"

Zipper gave a buzz of warning, and Chip looked up to see the girl rat dart in and grab the plank, moving backwards to hold it like a club. She was facing him, and looked as if she wasn't sure whether to strike, run or do the can-can. He moved back out of the way, circling the ex- captive until the searchlight illuminated her quite clearly.

She was about Monty's height, or a head taller than Chip, with glossy black fur and small pointed ears. Her eyes were equally dark, and her muzzle was quite short, with delicate white whiskers and a pink nose. She had loose, shoulder length headfur, that was a shade lighter than the rest of her body. She wore a torn green jumper and brown skirt.

She called out suspiciously. "Who are you working for? Why did you attack them?" She had a trace of English accent.

"Well, that guy was about to shoot you, and I figured you might not like that too much. And I don't work for anyone, I work with the Rescue Rangers, and so does my friend." He pointed to Zipper. "My names Chip, and this is Zipper."

The girl lowered her guard slightly, looking puzzled. "The Rescue Rangers? I've think I've heard of them from a bat that lives over at the University… but what were you doing out here, and where are the others? I know there's five of you…"

Chip sighed. "You know Foxglove?" From her reaction it was clear she did. "We were on a mission at the Mega-mall, and they had to leave me behind for a couple of hours." He outlined the main points of what had happened. He continued, hands up, posture neutral.

"Look, it's clear you don't trust me. If you feel that nervous, then turn and go. Zipper and I won't follow. Or you can put down the wood and maybe we can help. After all, that's what the Rescue Rangers do." "Zyeah!"

The girl rat hesitated a moment, clearly debating with herself. Then she shifted the piece of wood onto her shoulder like a rifle at port. "Alright, but let's get away from here. I don't want to be around when they wake up, or if any more of Sugarbottom's Choc troopers show up."

"I knew I recognised that fat phiz of his!" Chip exclaimed, causing the girl to start.

"How do you know about him anyway?" She asked, suspicion still clear in her voice.

"Oh, the Rangers have tangled with that chocolate fruitcake before! Last time it was down in South America, where he was using mosquitoes to deliver ancient Aztec zombie drugs to unsuspecting creatures, and using them to harvest cocoa trees." He caught the leader by the shoulders and dragged him round to the back.

"What're you doing?" the girl asked, surprised.

"Moving them inside. They're exposed out here and there might be predators about." He looked around the inside, two benches along the side and a separate compartment for the driver. It looked like an Action Guy Bad Guyz (TM) troop carrier, a fairly common model of dual control (internal and remote) toy.

Chip briefly wondered what vibe made humans outfit models with internal controls that the dolls they were built for didn't need, but as always, accepted it as a fact of life. The hamsters had apparently added some touches of their own, a rack with some pole arms and rifles, and an electric fire starter which had apparently been juiced up into the rodent equivalent of a cattle prod.

He moved the last one inside, flicked off the searchlight from the drivers cabin and got out of the back, closing the fold down door/ramp behind him, and wedging it with the plank. Zipper popped up from inside the drivers compartment, having jammed the connecting door. They'd be found eventually, but if they came to quickly, they wouldn't be able to do much.

"But we could use that RC!" the girl said, glancing about and shuddering. "Let's get out of here!" She discarded the plank and picked up the rifle, examining it.

"Too conspicuous. We'll be less obvious on paws." As his eyes adjusted to the lower light levels, he asked, "What else does Sugarbottom have moving around?"

With only the distant mall lights, the girl rat was just a shadow. "I saw more of those, some trucks, and a few jeeps. He's got diggers and a couple of tanks, but…"

"They're not likely to be used for a search. No bats, or aircraft?" He saw her shake her head, slightly uncertainly. He nodded and said in a reassuring tone. "Well, it's not likely. So, what's the chocolate nut up to this time? Nothing good, I'm guessing."

She tensed when he said that, which was puzzling, but replied, "You guess right. As to what's going on… it's kind of complicated. Though it's funny you should mention nuts…"

He started walking off in the direction of the rendezvous, then thought better of it and picked up a leaf that he swept along behind, covering their tracks in the windblown sand.

He glanced up at the stars visible between the now, more scattered, clouds. "C'mon, this way. Feel free to explain as we go, starting with who you are. Everything above the rim of my fedora is all ears." he said lightly.

That got a slight smile. She walked alongside him, but slightly behind, while Zipper flew overhead.

"My name is Marion Ravenfur. As for what that leiderhosen lunatic is after, it's the resting place of the last and greatest invention of Mr Willy Wonti. In short, he's after the Ark of the Chocolate Covered Nut."

Chip looked puzzled. "How is that so valuable? I can get a bag of chocolate covered nuts from any corner store."

"Not like this one." She paused. "His last invention, the one he didn't release, was a new flavor of chocolate. My grandfather was his lab rat, which is how I got involved."

"I've heard of him. Dale, the resident chocoholic on our team, talked about Wonti a couple of times, said he was the greatest candy-maker who ever lived. But how could he come up with a new flavor? Chocolate is chocolate!"

That got a snicker. "What about, white chocolate, dark chocolate, orange chocolate, mint chocolate, caramel chocolate…" she ticked them off on her fingers. "Granddad was more than just a lab rat, he was Mr Wonti's friend those last years."

"Wonti was a Speaker, like Sugarbottom?"

"No, or at least, only with my grandfather. I'm not sure he heard words, but they understood each other. He came with Mr Wonti when he came from Britain. Granddad said Mr Wonti claimed this new flavour would be worth a mint, or possibly even a caramel to whoever got it. You see, he enjoyed pottering around in his lab, so he licensed his inventions out to the big chocolate firms rather than go into big business for himself. He was rich, but kind of eccentric towards the end."

"So he hid his last invention away for some reason?"

She nodded. "Apparently, he had a vault built somewhere around here, in one of the underground tunnels. This whole place was once small factories and warehouses, and his workshop was one of them. Now, of course, they're turning it into a new car park for the Mega-mall."

He asked, quietly. "Were you a part of this business?"

"Heavens no! I live over at the University trash dump. I'm an under-the-floor graduate student in Economics. I just come to visit him, make sure he's eating right. He stayed behind to look after Mr Wonti's place, even after the above ground part was gone…"

"So how did Sugarbutt become a part of it?"

"Apparently he was some sort of protégé of Mr Wonti and must have gotten wind of his discovery. According to my grandfather they were once friends, but Sugarbottom wanted more glory, and stole some of Wonti's ideas and presented them as his own. They never spoke again, and I'm sure Mr Wonti wouldn't have wanted Sugarbottom to have this secret."

"That doesn't explain the German soldier hamsters. They didn't act like regular Aztec zombies… Too mobile, and the shock didn't wake them. So the question is, how did he get them, and what are they doing?"

Marion shook her head, "I don't know about that. I came for my regular visit, and found my grandfathers new place looking like a bomb had hit it. Then a bunch of them swarmed me and dragged me to Sugarbottom's place, a shop in the Mega-mall. They put me in a cage next to my grandfather, and there I stayed until I escaped. Sugarbottom was going to use me to get my grandfather to co-operate."

She thought a moment. "I heard my grandfather talk about them being 'conditioned' some how. Sugarbottom don't want to risk trying it on him, because it might affect his memory, then there'd be no-one who could tell him how to …" There was an uncomfortable pause as she stopped herself.

Chip gave it a cushion. "I'm guessing there's some kind of map item showing the location. Your grandfather had it, only he knows how to read it, and you managed to bring it with you when you escaped. That's what that goon was asking about."

He heard a sigh. "Foxglove said the not so cute one was a top notch detective… Oh, I'm sorry!" She sounded worried. "I don't mean you're not cute, but…" She was getting good at making pauses uncomfortable.

Chip chuckled. "Foxglove views the world through Dale coloured glasses. I'm surprised she even notices me."

Zipper had been hovering along above them all this time, staying quiet as Chip questioned Marion. Now he saw moving lights over several intervening dunes, coming towards their position. He dropped down in front of Chip and buzzed out a warning. "Good work, Zipper!" the chipmunk crusader replied, looking around in the dim-lit car park. "Looks like more of the chocolate brownies are headed this way. We need to hide."

A stack of bricks over four feet high towered off to one side, and he started moving towards it. Marion took one look at it and exclaimed. "I'll never climb that!"

Chip grinned. "Perfect, then they'll never think of looking up there." He pulled out his trusty bobby pin grapple line, and hurled the end up to catch on the top edge. "Don't worry. You just tie yourself onto this rope, and I'll belay for you as you climb." He made a bowline cradle in the end, and swarmed up the brick wall using the rope. As a matter of fact, he could have done it unaided, but he wanted Marion to feel confident about using it.

Zipper helped the still uncertain lady rat into the loop at the end, and stayed with her as Chip helped pull her up, using his jacket as a cushion on the edge of the brick so the string wouldn't break. He pulled her over the edge just as a convoy pulled up at the base of the stack. Chip lay down at the edge and pulled a fragment of mirror out of his reclaimed jacket. He held it over the edge, angling it to act as a periscope while not reflecting any searchlights directed their way.

It was a big group, all vehicles from the Action Guy Bad Guyz range. A command car, patterned after a Kubelwagen jeep, was in the lead. It had two hamsters in the front seats, and a walkie talkie in place of the back seat. It was followed by an APC, and three half-track trucks with canvas covered load beds similar to US M3's, and another APC. The trucks proved to be full of hamsters in Choc Trooper uniforms.

"Halten!" Another hamster with a peaked cap stood up in the command car, and called out in a movie German accent. "Our orders are to comb dis section of der car park until ve recover der Ravenfur fraulein and the gob-stopper she carries. Ve must get it even if ve haff to kill her!"

Dutifully, groups of hamsters started hauling out combs from the backs of the trucks.

The driver in the command car spoke hesitantly. "Obersthamster, are you schure dis was vat our glorious leader vanted us to do?"

This got him a cuff. "Idioten! I am followink his orders eshactly!" He waved the others forward. "Schnell, schnell!"

Chip stifled a chuckle, and said quietly. "what a bunch of goobers! that's going to take them half the night." He sobered up. "but while they're down there, we're stuck up here."

Marion started to say something, then thought better of it. The wind was starting up again, and it was cold, even though it was almost summer. Chip looked around, their perch, which was a bare, two foot square surface of none too neatly stacked bricks. The only thing to break it up was a lunch box. The high wind earlier had tipped it over, and it lay on it's side with the lid open, exposing the remains of some worker's lunch.

Marion had trotted over to the shelter it provided, them picked a foot long satay stick out of the debris. It still had chunks of meat on it, and she pulled one off, nibbling daintily at it. When Chip looked at her, she shrugged. "They didn't feed me in there!"

Zipper hauled an apple core bigger than he was out of it, and gulped it with a satisfied sigh, and a complete disregard for normal physics.

Chip turned back to surveying the situation. The view was excellent. He could see over the stacks of sand and building supplies, all the way to the edges. Other lights told of other groups, and there were at least a dozen of them. "whoa! he's really going all out!"

The mega-mall had a few external security lights, which did more to define the black shape then actually illuminate it. But there was also a larger light, lower down, and open loading bay with movement inside. He pulled out a Gadget-made spy glass and started looking at it.

"That's sugarbottom's place!", exclaimed Marion, the last two words quieted by Zipper flying up in front of her, signaling to stay quiet. "we do not want to go there."

Chip rolled over and got up. "actually, we might. there's only a couple of hamsters and sugarbottom there, and they're in the loading bay. i bet he has everyone out looking for you. it would be the perfect time to sneak in and rescue your grandfather. what's the layout inside?"

"well… there's a big chocolate making room just behind the loading bay, with some smaller rooms off to one side, and I think the far wall door leads to the front store. The third room along is where he keeps his prisoners."

"there were more than just you?"

"oh yes, he's gathered up a lot of the locals to work at digging out the tunnels. he followed the instructions on the gob-stopper, but so far it just lead him to a dead end. that's why he's trying to get my grandfather to tell him what he's missed."

"that complicates things…"

"how can it complicate the impossible? not that I wouldn't like to help them escape, but if we go down, they'll spot us!"

Chip grinned, and held his hat in the air, feeling which way the breeze pushed it, which was in the direction of the mega mall. "i wasn't thinking of going down…"

He pulled a folded piece of paper and a stack of inch squares of duct tape from inside his jacket. Using the shelter of the lunch box, he unfolded the piece of paper to it's full A4 size, and started refolding it in a paper glider.

Marion took some seconds to realise what he was doing. "You have got to be joking!" Zipper shushed her again.

"it's okay, i've built these before… well, not exactly this design, but the principle is the same. i need that stick."

He said nothing about how that last attempt, just before their first case, worked out. Spending time with Gadget had given him a much better understanding of the principles of flight and he was sure he knew what had gone wrong the last time.

He took it and laid it along the keel, taping it in place with some of the duct tape. A second, gnawed off stick was set across the back as a cross brace. He tore hand holes in the paper of the keel, and sacrificed part of his grapple line to make two safety harnesses to hang from them, and a control cable that could warp the wings, passing from the tip of one wing, through the front hand hold and to the other tip.

At the end of it Chip had a two person hang glider, which caught the wind and almost blew away when he turned it upright. He spoke to Marion. "just get yourself in the rear harness, hold onto the handholds over your head, and run forward with me. and stay quiet, for both our lives."

She stepped back and exclaimed, "I'm not running anywhere, and certainly not in that! I'm a rat, not a bat!"

There were noises from below, and a clink, as something caught the edge of the bricks. Zipper shot to the edge, then back, buzzing with alarm.

"well it's either the glider, or rejoining the happy hamster brigade." Chip translated.

Reluctantly, she stepped forward, and set herself in the loops. On Chip's command they ran forward and straight off the edge of the bricks on the far side from the parked convoy. The rising wind caught them and lifted them away into the air, and Marion gave a stifled squeak. A few seconds later, a hamster in a choc trooper uniform and with a novelty key-fob torch and a comb strapped to his back, hauled himself over the edge.

&

Chip could maneouvre the glider by shifting his bodyweight, and moving the control cable back and forth for wing warping. Marion, behind him had her eyes closed and was holding her breath. Zipper, of course was riding on top. He brought it around until they were facing the mega-mall. The loading bay areas weren't actually in the main structure, but in a sort of annex with a lower roof that ran the length of the main one.

He heard Marion's voice from behind him. "If we die, I am going to kill you… Is it safe to look now?"

He had no need to whisper now. "Perfectly! The view is great!" Zipper added his endorsement.

He heard another squeak. "Ohmigosh! We're so high! I'll fall…"

"Will you cool it? You're perfectly safe in that harness, and it's not that high, can't be more than 50 feet. I've gone up thousands in the Rangerwing, and flown just about every type of aircraft."

"I don't want to know… Does that include paper airplanes?"

"Of course, and this one handles even better than I hoped. Look, we're almost at the roof of the loading bay, all I have to do is glide down. Easy!"

He heard a deep sigh, and Marion said, "You know, once you get past the terror, this is kind of fun… Should? Have you actually landed a paper airplane?"

Chip chuckled uneasily. "Well… not exactly… I mean it landed, and I landed, but not all at the same time… But I've landed everything else safely…"

Marion balled up in her harness with her eyes closed. "OhnononoImgontodiegontodie…"

Chip dipped the nose and sailed down to execute a perfect walkout landing with the rat still curled up in a ball behind him.

"We're down. The red zone is for the loading and unloading of passengers only."

"…gontodie…huh?" She opened one eye, then tentatively put down one foot, as if testing water before jumping in. "Amazing. I didn't even feel the bump."

"Told ya! Y'know, you should really switch to decaf!"

"Zoverhere guyz…" called Zipper. He was already at the edge where the roof of the loading bays met the mega-mall main building. He'd found a grill with warm air coming from it.

Chip untangled himself from the glider and came over. "Okay… A way in… you check for other ways out…" As Zipper buzzed off, Chip pulled out a section of disposable craft knife blade and scraped some of the dirt away from the holding screws, then stuck it crosswise in the grove on the top and turned. Slowly at first, it unscrewed, and the other three screws followed it.

"Have to make myself a better torch, and soon…" He muttered, as he peered into the stygian gloom. It looked like a horizontal shaft, with a number of grills opening down into lit rooms in the distance. "Hmm…"

Marion came up behind him. "How do you know this will get us to the prison room?"

"I don't. But I landed us right on top of Sugarbottom's loading bay, and this is about a quarter of the way along. It's our best shot…"

"So why are we waiting?" asked the girl rat.

"How many other animals were there in the prison?"

"Several dozen…"

"Darn! We need some way to get them all out." He went to the other edge and looked over.

Sugarbottom was standing right below, shouting at a bunch of hamsters in fancier versions of the brown uniforms, with gold foil coins as epaulettes.

"Ach! Can you sausage-heads do nothink right?"

The one with the biddest chocolate coins responded. "But glorious leader! We haff every choc trooper out searchink. Ve will find der fraulein."

"We haf no time! They are bulldozing and fillink in the old tunnels, and soon der Ark will be lost for efer. You are findink dat little rodent soon, or maybe I try out mine recipe for chocolate hamsters, hein?"

Chip looked around the rest of the bay and found nothing that pleased him. Stacks of boxes, an overhead winch, some powered trolleys…. big enough, but too slow. There were half a dozen choc trooper vehicles, hooked up to recharging units on a multi-way bar socket. Some of them were fully charged, if the green LEDs meant anything, however, getting to them would be almost impossible, and anyway, he was unlikely to find enough drivers to animal them from among the prisoners.

He came back, shaking his head. "We're not getting them out that way…"

Zipper flew back up, buzzing excitedly.

"That'd work!" Chip exclaimed.

Marion folded her arms. "And the translation for those of us who don't speak Fly?"

"There's a bunch of dumpsters at the far end overflowing with wastepaper and soft trash. If we can get them up here, they can jump down and get away."

"If we can get to them…" Marion said, uncertainly.

Chip forged on into the ventilation tunnel. The downwards facing grilles were, as he expected, ventilators leading into the well lit main room, filled with various pieces of cooking machinery and work tops. He stopped at one, and looked down with interest.

"What's up?" Marion asked.

Chip shook his head. "Maybe nothing." There were crude ladders and other additions to the manually operated machinery, jury rigged and hay wired, but clearly workable. It seemed that having failed with zombie labour, he was using small animal slave labour to run his enterprise. While Chip was no expert, all the machines looked both worn and archaic, or at least old, with mechanical dials and switches. The area was also deserted, with no guards, at least outside the doors, which was a relief.

A side vent, just beyond that, showed a darkened room, lit by a couple of nightlights. It had clearly been a storeroom, but now the metal shelving units had been converted into hamster dormitories, with rows of beds. But it was what was down in the centre that made Chip gasp.

"So that's how he did it…" Chip gasped, and Zipper buzzed agreement.

"Why do I get the feeling there's a circular that went round and I missed it?" Marion said. "It's just a bunch of old junk and a tape player. Why he'd put a cutout of his face in front of a spiral disk I don't know. Modern art?"

Chip shook his head. "One of our regular foes is a crime boss called Fat Cat. One of his scams was kidnapping and hypnotising sturgeon to lay eggs like chickens, so he could sell them to the rich cats uptown." When he heard a giggle from beside him, he said. "True story! Anyway, he used a gizmo that looked a lot like that."

Zipper had buzzed down through the grill, landed on the tape player, and turning down the volume, pressed Play. Sugarbottom's voice came from it.

"…You vill obey Heinrich von Sugarbottom as your glorious leader in all things. You vill vear chocolate coloured uniforms. And anudder thingk, you vill speak with a proper German accent, like mine own …"

Chip nodded. "Yeah, that sounds about right. It wears off after a couple of days, but I bet they're getting a refresher course every night. We found out later that the design came from this kooky 'How to make friends and hypnotise people' book published in the 70's, when there was a lot of interest in all things psychic."

He called Zipper back, continuing, "It sold a only few dozen copies, because it didn't work on humans. We figure the guy who wrote it tested it on animals, and assumed it would work on anyone. Fat Cat had a copy, and I guess it makes sense a hypnotism happy hoodlum like Sugarbottom would find one too."

Zipper popped back in through the grate, and they carried on. The second side grate was an office of sorts, combined with a bedroom, or at least there was an unmade camp bed in one corner. The desk was piled high with papers and lit by a desk lamp. Chip wanted to get down there and check those papers, but he had bigger strudels to stuff.

The third was the jackpot. Better lit than the others, there were several rows of locked cages stacked on shelves, and other shelves of various stores and packages, including industrial sized jars and tins of ingredients. Along one side of the floor, there were several child's sewing machines, several open tins of brown dye, and a big box with an Action Guy logo, and a shipping label.

'1 gross Bad Guyz uniforms, Deliver to: Spiffy Toys, Harland's Mega-Mall.' and the address.'

"So, hijacking shipments to a toy store, is he? I'll bet that's how he got all his stuff. Usual cheapskate M.O, like using second hand cooking equipment." Chip looked over at the cages, which had all sorts of animals, from mice through to squirrels, rabbits and moles, even a family of chipmunks. "Those poor guys…"

There was an isolated cage there, with a dignified rat in a once neat, now torn and stained, lab-coat. He had the same black fur as Marion, though his was speckled with a salting of white.

"My grandfather!" Marion squeaked, and pointed to one of the top row shelves. "We have to get to him!"

"Zipper, do a quick circuit to check if they have a guard in here." Chip said.

Zipper came back with a negative. It seemed they really had sent everyone out for the hunt. There normally was a guard though, because over by the door was a hook with a set of Yale style keys.

Chip checked out the view from the grill. He could jump down a couple of feet, but the drop to the solid floor would be risky. "Unfortunately, there's no shelving on this wall, and I don't have enough rope left on my line to get us down to the floor. I used it on… that's it!"

"Oh no, not that again…" Marion moaned.

&

The sleepy animals in the cages were woken by a metal creak as the air-conditioning grill on the far wall opened. A fly zipped out, followed by a curiously constructed paper plane, with two creatures hanging off it, the rear one for dear life. It spiraled round the room, losing altitude with each cycle, until it grounded on the floor in the centre.

There were various exclamations of surprise as the chipmunk in front peeled himself free.

In response to the rising hubbub, Chip signaled for silence. When he had it, he called out. "We're here to rescue you, all of you. But you'll all need to co-operate."

A worried voice came from one of the lowest level cages, a rabbit. "But the guards..."

"Are off on a wild rat chase at the moment, but we have to hurry. Don't go outside this room unless you want to blow everything."

He turned where Marion stood after freeing herself. "Marion, take the keys and free your grandpa, then get started on the top row. Zipper, middle row, and I'll take the bottom." The locks on the cages were of the ultra cheap 'jewelry' type, barely better than a latch, but quite sufficient to keep an animal inside. Both the Rangers could pick such locks as easily as picking their teeth, Chip having learned from Gadget, Zipper from Monty, so it was a matter of moments before the group of animals were milling around on the floor.

They were a sorry lot, more than Marion had said, as she'd been counting cages, and there were sometimes entire families in a single one. A few had recognised Chip, by his description at least, and the fact he was palling around with a fly, and the news had quickly spread through the crowd. He talked to a few of them, getting their stories, and his opinion of Sugarbottom sank lower then ever. Operating the machines, digging for the secret chamber, making uniforms, even down to the youngest kits. If they didn't work, they didn't eat.

All of them seemed eager to get out, which wasn't surprising. He had been worried at first that some of them might have been hypnotised, but it made sense that they weren't. The hamsters were cage bred, raised by humans to be pets, and would therefore trust a human, especially one that could talk to them. They would likely watch the birdie and quickly be conditioned. From then on repeated doses kept them that way. Big enough to be tough, small enough to outfit with toys. That was probably why Sugarbottom had used them in the first place.

These guys, however, were from the wild, and had been kidnapped. To condition them with a different, complex set of instructions for slavery would take hours, as their natural independence and anger would help them resist. You couldn't have hamsters watching over them, unless you wanted the hamsters affected too, so Sugarbottom would have to oversee it personally.

But time spent doing that, was time not spent running the shop and the retrieval operation. Far easier for a petty bully, cheapskate and short term thinker like Sugarbottom to use threats and punishments to the same end. Besides it probably fed his pitiful ego to be, quite literally, the big boss.

Zipper was using a bottle of food colouring to mark the exit route, and Marion was attending to her grandfather, who'd been particularly badly treated. Meanwhile, Chip managed to ferret out the leaders (though none of the leaders was a ferret) and explained his plan.

"The loading dock is being used by Sugarbottom and his goons, but if we build a stairway out of those cans on the storage shelves, you can get up to the ventilation shaft and out. The left hand route leads to the roof, and left along that, there's a set of rubbish bins which you can use to get down."

"You just leave that there stairway to us, Mister Chip", the oldest mole said, pushing back his hardhat, "When it comes to diggin' holes down, or pilin' stuff up, we moles have the knowing of that."

It didn't take long for the Fore-mole to prove he knew what he was talking about. All the animals went to work with a will, since this was one piece of work they'd be happy to complete. Chip helped organise the families for evacuation, smallest animals first, then bigger ones. Marion and her father were last, because he wanted to see them to safety personally.

When the evacuation started, he had enough time to dash off and do some constructive violence to a certain machine, and to find a certain book and feed it, or at least certain key pages, into the office shredder. That'd put a serious crimp in Sugarbottom's XXXXL shorts.

It was on the way back from this pleasant duty that he heard an ear-splitting crash from the prison room. Zipper burst out, and buzzed frantically. Chip stopped at the door and could see for himself, what the fly was saying. One of the big rabbits had slipped on trying to get into the duct, a fairly tight squeeze. They'd managed to scramble in, but knocked the top of the pile in the process.

The steps had been well designed, but to take vertical pressure, not lateral. The top couple of steps, the lightest stuff had fallen and tumbled enough of the rest that the ventilator duct was now unreachable. Now he, Marion and her grandpa were trapped, and they could hear the voice of doom from outside...

"Gott und Himmel! Vat vas dat crashing? If dose rotten rodent vorkers have caused any damache I vill remove their soft centres personally, vith a schpoon!"

****

To be continued… – I have only one thing to say… Ewwwwwwwww!


	2. Chapter 2

****

Rangers of the Lost Car Park –Part 2

Chip was already acting. "Zipper! The door…" But the fly was already on it, zipping across the kitchen to the door that lead to the loading bay. He landed on the deadbolt, and with a burst of super-insectoid strength, pushed it home a fraction of a second before the handle started rattling.

The rabbit who'd caused the trouble had backed up enough to stick his head out of the duct and apologise, asking if there was anything he could do.

"No, just get your people outta there before the praline brain tries to send in hamsters that way!" Chip called back.

Marion exclaimed, from where she stood with her grandpa. "Are you completely crazy? That's our only chance to get out of this trap!"

Chip was moving from the doorway into the kitchen, glancing around. "Not completely. There's always a chance, as long as one can think."

"Well think fast, because the incredible bulk may not be much use for anything else, but he's got the mass for a battering ram." To punctuate her words, there was a thud from the door as something heavy hit it, knocking Zipper off his perch. He came flying back.

"Already done. It's called contingency planning. You think I was just admiring the view up top? I need your help to set it up though." He turned to the older mouse, who was walking a bit stiffly. "Mr Ravenwood…"

"Call me Arthur, old chap. Everyone does."

"… okay, Arthur, could you get over to the far side of the door? We'll need to move fast…"

"Now wait half a mo', I may not be at the top of my game, but I want to help!"

Chip paused less than a second before saying, "Very well, you and Zipper, find some twine, anything as long as there's at least 12 feet of it. And we need one of those trolleys.…" He pointed to where a number of skateboards were parked, with soda can ring-pulls glued on as mouse sized hand holds. "… over there." Both things had the advantage of being light, or at least easy to move, and essential to his plan.

He started climbing a ladder that lead to a central table. "Marion, I need you up here."

"Care to explain…"

"No time!", he was halfway up the ladder by then.

Sugarbottom had been working on something special, a carved chocolate block bust of himself, and there were also several other things, some sort of drying machine run from a nitrogen cylinder that stood on the far side of the table, and a workstation where some of the workers had been dusting chocolates with icing sugar before packing them into boxes.

Marion had followed him up. "So what are we… whoa!"

Chip had the electric carving knife held in both paws like a chainsaw. He saw her pop up, and said, "Don't worry, just go over and get the sieve, a chocolate mould tray, and one of those boxes of chocolates."

"All at once?"

"Any way you like." He'd moved over to where the nitrogen cylinder stood on a wheeled stand. Unlike a scuba cylinder, the valve on it was a simple one-way affair, pushed open when the hose connector was firmly screwed on. The connector fitting had a mini-pressure gauge and a lever that operated the valve. He checked the pressure then used the carving knife as a lever to flick the valve lever to 'Off'.

Chip checked that Zipper and Arthur were nowhere near then powered it up and hacked away the hose, cutting it just above the fitting on the side facing the exterior door. The residual gas spurted out of the hose, rocking the cylinder, and a final swing with the carving knife severed the hose and tipped the cylinder over to clang to the floor, base facing the door on which Sugarbottom was still banging.

Marion came back pushing the box of chocolates, well half a box, and the other things on top. She wiped a smear of chocolate from her mouth somewhat self consciously under his gaze, and said, "Look, I have a very high metabolic rate, alright? And the box was too heavy as it was…"

"Whatever, there should still be enough." He looked down to where Arthur was pushing the skateboard into place underneath them, with Zipper directing. A big ball of decorative ribbon sat on it. He called down. "Perfect! Stand well back!"

He waited, until they were out of the way, then pushed the mold and the sieve off the edge. They landed on top of the skateboard. "Okay guys, make sure the sieve is on the skateboard and facing up."

Marion looked puzzled, "I still don't see…"

"You will." He grabbed hold of one end of the box. "Help me tip these over the side, into the sieve."

The chocolates poured over the edge and, mostly, into the sieve. Zipper, holding onto the handle with Arthur suddenly perked up as he saw what Chip was up to, or at least some of it.

"Okay, we're coming down.", Chip called. "Unroll the string and attach one end to the table leg." He looked towards the door, holding up his paws as if framing it. Marion could hear him muttering. "… about seven feet and a pressure of 3000 PSI…"

Under his supervision, a long ribbon was strung between the rear of the skateboard under-carriage and the table leg, and a three foot long ribbon between the front under-carriage and the neck of the cylinder. The sieve was attached to the skateboard as well, tip of the handle to the front grips, base of the handle by some slack ribbon to the middle. Finally the straps that held the cylinder to the frame were released. Sugarbottom had stopped banging, and started thinking, as they heard him tell one of his martial minions to radio some of the troops back.

This took a lot less time than it does to tell, and while they were doing it, Chip gave final instructions. "Arthur, Marion, get over by the far side of the door, and when you see a chance to run to the vehicle bay, do it. The car at the end should have a full charge. Use the mold as a shield if any of the goons have those rifles. I'll join you as soon as possible."

"But what about Sugarbottom?" Marion asked as they started to walk.

"He won't be a problem. Zipper?" The fly zoomed off, first to douse the lights, and then draw back the deadbolt. The noise attracted attention from outside, and after a few seconds the handle turned. Sugarbottom stood framed in the lit doorway, peering into the darkened shop.

Chip turned a handle too, and the gas started jetting out of the nitrogen cylinder, which took off like a rocket aimed straight at the rapacious rotund reprobate. Chip bounded up onto the skateboard just as it started to move, towed by the improvised booster. He hung on to the ribbons, making slight adjustments in course by shifting his weight. The cylinder hit Sugarbottom right in his spare (tractor) tyre and carried him flying backwards.

Chip was meanwhile scanning the ground outside the door for the goons he'd seen. Three were in a group, and one was over by a radio. He shifted to one side and aimed the nose of the skateboard right at the group of hamsters. As it reached the threshold of the door, the rope connecting it to the table went taut and it stopped with a jerk, flipping the sieve up like a catapult and when it reached just short of vertical it was stopped by the restraints, transferring all the momentum to the chocolate assortment it carried.

They sleeted out in a shower, pelting the three high ranking hamsters. One got a hard centre to the head and fell over Another was hit by a face full of caramel and rolled over as he tried to clear the goo away. The third swallowed a chocolate covered coffee bean and just plain keeled over.

Meanwhile, the cylinder had also pulled up short, letting Sugarbottom fly off the end and land heavily against the far wall. His poundage acted as a natural cushion, but he was still slumped against the far wall, unconscious after his close encounter of the compressed kind.

Chip had unfortunately been thrown off the front of the skateboard when it stopped, and did a tumble off to land prone. The hamster on the radio had seen him, and turned, picking up a gas ring lighter shock prod. He stormed over to the fallen chipmunk. "You will pay for vat you has done!" he yelled, jabbing out with it. Chip frantically rolled to one side, barely evading the wild thrust.

Fortunately, Zipper arrived, buzzing around the guy's head and distracting him. As Chip scrambled up, Marion ran over, and used the metal chocolate mold tray rather differently than it was originally intended. Clang! The radio-operator certainly made an impression, in the tray, that is. As she came back and helped Arthur get to the jeep, Zipper had sped ahead and unplugged it from the charger, slamming closed the boot, which was also the battery compartment.

"Get ready to move!" Chip had picked up the shock prod and used it on the radio antennae of the walkie-talkies, and jammed it in the boot of the other two jeeps, frying the circuits. Now they couldn't talk, or follow. The other vehicles were heavier, but used the same power train, so they'd never catch up. He jumped into the drivers seat, which Zipper had kept clear. The insect adventurer flew forward to take up the hood ornament position, Marion was in the passenger seat, and Arthur was in the rear, instead of a walkie-talkie. Chip gunned the motor and the lightly loaded jeep took off as if its tail were on fire.

Someone, most probably caramel-kopf, got his act together. A bullet pinged off the back of the jeep, cracking the hard plastic. But then they were clear of the loading bay and heading down the service road and through the construction zone..

"Nicely done, old boy!" called out Mr Ravenfur from behind. "That was using the old noggin."

Chip smirked as he navigated round the construction site to get on the road to the Orange section car park. "Please, call me Chip. It was a simple application of Guttamechs Law of Opposing Forces in Motion…" Actually helping out Gadget in her workshop, and getting to know that part of her life, had resulted in some unexpected benefits.

Marion asked, "Why didn't you use the ribbon to repair your grapnel rope, and get us out the ventilator?"

"Broken glass. Even if we'd tried to lay a path through that wrecked stuff, we'd have been on foot and limping. What with that, and hauling up you and Arthur one by one, it wouldn't have been any faster, and we might have met hamsters in the shaft. This was a more complex plan, but offered greater advantages…"

Marion pointed at the rear view mirror. "And do you have a plan for them?"

Chip saw an entire convoy come round a half built raised border from a side road, and shook his head. "Uh huh. In a situation like this, you generally have to improvise." He could keep ahead of them, but he couldn't lose them, the jeeps at least, until their power ran down.

He saw what he was sure was the dividing wall between this and the Orange section, a raised border three foot high. From the glimpse he'd gotten going the other way, hanging from the Rangerwing, it was at least eight foot across, and still empty all the way down, having not yet been filled with soil. Not much use… until he saw a plank, clearly a way for them to move wheelbarrows full of soil up to the edge. He skidded round, and drove away from it, pulling into a bootlegger turn.

Marion blanched. "Oh no… You can not be thinking…"

"Oh yes, I am." Chip said, ramming the speed lever all the way forward and causing the tyres to smoke. "Make sure your seatbelts are secure, and your seat backs and tray tables are in the full, upright position."

As they went up the ramp, Marion hunched down in her seat, whereas Arthur was grinning like a thief. The convoy reached the base of the ramp just as Chip's jeep left the top, one of the other jeeps ramming it in an attempt to stop them. All it did was knock the plank down.

Chip's jeep sailed across the cavity with a long, drawn out squeak from Marion. The rear wheels caught on the rim at the far side, and gave them the last little bit of impulse to arc down onto the tarmac of the Orange section car-park. Chip gave a sigh of relief.

"Well, from the layout, it'll take them at least 10 minutes to go around, and by that time we'll be long gone… oh no…" They had clearly managed to replace the plank, and one of the other jeeps could be seen by it's headlights, arcing over the gap. However, the weight of the radio in the back made it slightly too heavy, and it disappeared below the retaining wall. There was a thump as one of the bricks in it slid half a width outwards. All four occupants of Chip's jeep winced in unison.

"Ohhh… That's gonna leave a mark." Chip exclaimed.

"Looks like it has already old chap… sorry, Chip." replied Arthur lightly, pointing at the brick.

He drove off at a more leisurely pace, and came to a stop under the sign for the Orange section car-park. He exhaled sharply, and said in a relieved tone. "Whoo! That was a close one. I hope you didn't mind the rough ride…"

Arthur chipped in, "Nonsense, Chip. I haven't had such fun in years. An excellent escape, and chauffeur driven too!"

Chip preened a bit at the praise. "It's what I do." Zipper buzzed sharply and Chip quickly amended, "…what we do. Sorry Zipper, I couldn't have done it without you, you know that."

Marion had been silent the whole drive. Now she spoke. "I still can't believe we got away with it! You are the craziest chipmunk I ever knew!"

Chip grinned, "So Foxy's never actually introduced you to Dale…"

She turned to look at him, something glittering in her eyes. "You could have just walked, but you helped me… and got grandfather and all the others out just like you said… and managed to escape…"

"All in a day's, I mean evening's work...!" The words were choked off as Marion leaned over, took his face in her paws, and kissed him enthusiastically enough that he could tell she liked chocolate orange cremes. Zipper took one look and rolled over on his back, on the cowling, buzzing with laughter. Chip felt the buzzing in his ears get louder as the kiss went on…

No it wasn't buzzing, it was the twin rotors of the Rangerwing, in hover mode. The searchlight shone down on the car.

Monty's voice was welcome. "Hey Chippah! We're back to collect you!"

Zipper took off from the front cowling and zipped up to Monty's seat with a glad cry… well buzz, but it meant the same thing. "Zmonty!"

"But if you're busy, we can come back another time…", Dale's voice was less so, especially since Chip's fellow chipmunk continued, "…you sly dog you!"

Gadget's voice floated down. "Golly Chip, who are your new friends?"

Marion released him. Chip gave a little sigh, then did something that made all his other feats that night look simple. He smiled.

"This is Miss Marion Ravenfur, a friend of Foxglove's, and Mr Arthur Ravenfur, her father. Marion, Arthur, I'd like you to meet my friends, the Rescue Rangers."

&

It hadn't been comfortable, but the Rangerwing had carried them all back to Ranger HQ. It was past 10 when they arrived, but despite the hour, the other three Rangers were eager to hear what their fearless leader and the heroic fly had been up to. They sat around the kitchen table with snacks, a big jug of hot cocoa, and a bunch of Gadget's insulated thimble mugs. Arthur's leg had been tended to as soon as they could reach a medical kit.

Chip, with occasional additions from Marion and Zipper told the tale, this time giving credit where it was due. Then Marion explained, at Chip's request, how she'd gotten involved. It appeared that she'd originally been picked up as part of a random sweep for workers, which explained how she'd ended up in the detention room. However, Sugarbottom might be unscrupulous, and more than a little cracked, but he wasn't stupid. He quickly noticed her resemblance to Arthur and worked out they were related.

The two of them had been escorted across the road, to a pit that lead down into Wonti's workshop cellar, and from there to the work area. The room that was supposed to be the resting place of the Ark was buried. Sugarbottom had brought the gob stopper with him, and had held it in front of him, basically threatening Marion, if Arthur didn't tell him what he was missing.

Arthur had pretended to be on the verge of saying something, then bravely knocked the gob-stopper to Marion, and slammed into a nearby hoist to spill it's load and make a diversion. That was what had gotten him the injured leg. Marion had played in these tunnels when she was younger, and managed to evade her pursuers. She'd arrived on the surface, and was still getting her bearings when the goons arrived.

Monty was first to speak. "Sounds loike you 'ad Sugarbottom goin' in circles even before Chippah got to you. I still can't believe that Sugarbritches bloke is poking 'is oversized nose around 'ere."

"I can't believe I'm meeting someone who knew the great Willy Wonti personally!", exclaimed Dale. He pulled out a neatly folded candy wrapper and proffered it to Arthur. "Couldya autograph this? It's from that limited edition triple choc Wontibar."

As Arthur, slightly bemused, signed his name, Gadget was speaking to Chip. "I liked the bit where you built that rocket catapult. An interesting use of Guttamech's principle."

"I owe it all to you." answered Chip, looking pleased all the same. "I just did what you always described, made what I could with the materials at hand. I figured the gas jet had enough thrust to power it."

"You might have been able to amplify the force using an aerospike configuration… but I can see you were short on time."

Marion looked back and forth between them, as they discussed the technical aspects of the escape. She was figuring out that there was a lot there that wasn't being said. 'I wonder if Foxglove has noticed?' she thought. Under other circumstances she might have had a go at seeing what else that kiss she gave Chip could lead too, but it was obvious the blonde mouse had a connection with the chipmunk detective that went beyond teaching him.

Arthur chuckled. "I always told Harry that too much sampling the wares would give him gas, but that wasn't the way I meant it."

"Don't you mean Heinrich, mate?"

Arthur shook his head at Monty's question. "Putting on a fake accent and that ridiculous costume doesn't make him a great German chocolate-meister, any more than stealing Mr Wonti's secrets made him a British one. Harry Sugarbottom was originally apprenticed to Mr Wonti back in England. You wouldn't believe it, but he was a skinny young fellow.

"He wanted the acclaim, and wealth, of being a great candy-man, without actually working too hard for it. He was always pushing Willy to reveal his latest inventions as soon as they were created. But Mr Wonti was a perfectionist, and wouldn't reveal anything until he'd gotten it absolutely right.

"Eventually, Sugarbottom had enough of waiting, and absconded with half a dozen ideas that Wonti was still testing. He took them to a German company and presented them as his own. He clearly knew enough to fake it, and got a job on the strength of it. Of course, since Mr Wonti wouldn't reveal a project until it was finished, he had no way to prove they were stolen. Not that it did him any good in the long run."

Chip nodded. "Yeah, that sounds like him. Down in South America he was going on about how his bosses got fat on the profits, not him."

He paused for a moment, then went on. "He was saying something about a two day time limit before the tunnel was filled in, and without slave workers he's going to be at a big disadvantage. And since I wrecked his machine, in the next couple of days, his hamsters will wake up and wonder what the heck they've been doing. The question now is, do we go after this Ark ourselves, and deny him access to it, or do we let it be buried?"

Dale was first to pipe up, his eyes shiny. "We gotta go after the Ark! A new flavor of chocolate… Wonti's last invention…"

Chip put in. "Hold on Dale, Mr Ravenfur has the veto on this. Wonti left him the gob-stopper that supposedly holds the location."

Arthur spoke up. "He wanted me to find a true candy aficionado, someone he could trust to carry on his legacy. He said only someone like that could find the Ark. But you're welcome to try. If those tunnels are filled in, it'll be lost forever. Marion?"

Marion produced a white, smooth gob-stopper and placed it on the table. It had tiny black writing on it.

"From my door,

Go 100 paces, and 100 more.

Turn left and walk,

Until your way splits, then take the left fork.

Find the third door on your right,

You will find the secret inside."

Everyone contemplated it for a moment, then Gadget said. "Golly, it sounds easy enough. Why haven't they found it yet?"

Marion shrugged. "The corridor was blocked with rubble, and so was the chamber behind the third door when they got to it. They were digging away at it, but even with moles and toy diggers it was heavy going. Besides, I'm sure that cave-in was recent, and before that it was just an empty chamber. When I was younger… I could be wrong, but I don't think I am. Not that I was telling Sugarbottom anything."

Chip paced and pondered, writing the rhyme in his notebook. "Maybe there's some sort of secret hidden in the words, an acrostic or anagram. Fgtufy… Rekkte… Arthur, was Mr Wonti fond of crosswords, or anything?"

The black rat shook his head. "Not really. Poetry, yes, and puns, but not word games."

Gadget piped up. "It could be he left some sort of chemical clue in the composition… I can do some analysis work…" She looked back at the table, where the gob-stopper was… had been.

Marion gave out a squeak, then yelled "Put that back at once!" She bounced up to reach across the table, and caught her knee, forcing her to sit down rather suddenly, rubbing it. She was looking at Dale, who's expression of innocence was rather spoilt by the gob-stopper sized bulge in one cheek pouch.

"Mwut dw yu meam?" he said, somewhat indistinctly.

"The gob-stopper you've got in your mouth, you sugar-happy… Dale!" Chip's first reaction would have been the same as Marion's, but she'd beaten him to it. He was thinking, 'Urge to bonk rising… I will not bonk him… I will not bonk him… no matter how much he deserves it…'

He managed to cool down, and managed to bring himself under control, mainly thanks to Marion's bad example. Then a thought struck him. "Of course! That might be the answer! Dale, I need to see it!"

Dale reluctantly spat the shiny blue gob-stopper into his paw. The original writing had been sucked off with the white outer shell. However, on the inner shell, were more words.

"So you found the secret inside,

This gob-stopper, where it did hide,

Now you've had some exercise,

Make your steps go counter-wise,

Back to that fork they lead,

But the right fork is the one you need,

Watch the left wall, for my mark,

Which really will reveal all."

Chip smacked a balled paw into another. "Why didn't I see it! What would a true fan of candy do with a gob-stopper? He'd eat it of course, or rather suck it. No wonder the German goober's… well whatever he is, no wonder he hasn't found anything, he's looking in the wrong place!"

Dale tried to look thoughtful, but ended up looking constipated instead. "Uh… I knew it all along!"

There was a massed expression along the lines of, 'Who does he think he's fooling?' Chip shook his head. "Riiight… You just keep telling yourself that…" He wrote the second verse in his notebook.

Dale looked downcast, "Okay… but it's a Wonti original! And Chip'd made his notes. I just wanted to have a taste! And it was so worth it, it's one of the best gob-stoppers I've ever had!" He made an attempt to dry it off with the cuff of his Hawaiian shirt.

"Honestly Dale, sometimes you're as bad with sugar as Monty is with cheese." Said Gadget, sadly.

Monty had been about to make a comment about self-control, but hastily shut up. Zipper noticed, and had a fly sized snicker. Well actually it was a fun-sized Snickers bar from the plate of snacks, but the principle was the same.

"Sorry about that." Chip apologised to the two rats. "But you have to admit, he did find the clue to the location of the Ark. If you'll let him carry on, maybe they'll be other clues."

Dale brightened, especially when Marion shrugged, and Arthur smiled and said, "Alright. I never would have thought of that myself. Looks like my old friend had some fun with this."

"Gee thanks!" He put the gob-stopper back in and his face took on a blissful expression.

There weren't any other messages, but there was some more discussion. They decided to go after the Ark the next day, going in via an exit Marion knew about, and Sugarbottom hopefully didn't. Beds were quickly made up for Marion and Arthur, and since Gadget was involved, that was literally what happened.

Chip yawned, as he looked around the other Rangers. "We've got a busy day tomorrow, so Rescue Rangers, to bed!"

****

Station Break – Someone stick it back together with duct tape…

"It should be somewhere along this wall," Marion said quietly, looking up at the dimly lit brick surface.

So far the mission had gone without a hitch. Using both the Rangerplane and the Rangerwing, the Rangers and their two new friends had set out from the Treehouse after a hearty (and since Monty was cooking, cheesy, but in a good way) breakfast. Arthur had insisted on coming despite his injured leg, which he insisted wasn't bothering him. They had traveled the long way around, to the fields on the far side of the car park that was being constructed. By hedge hopping all the way, and used a blue-green balloon on the Rangerplane, they hoped to make themselves less visible to any scouts Sugarbottom had out.

They had found a secure landing place some way into the woods, and traveled on paw to the entrance Marion had recommended, with Zipper scouting ahead. Since she knew the tunnels, she had been able to bring them to the right place without travelling the path the message had given, and avoid any unfortunate meetings with Choc Troopers. They were however equipped against the off-chance that they did. It was a work day up above, and you could hear the construction noises, but they were reassuringly distant from the Rangers' current location.

The tunnel had been lined with brick and had an arched roof, and at intervals light wells in the roof provided shafts of low illumination... well high illumination in terms of where it came from, but low illumination in terms of the strength of the light. All in all it was suitably atmospheric for treasure hunting and acts of derring do. Not that any had been needed, to the relief of everyone but Dale. The dust on the floor showed no tracks, or signs of disturbance, so no-one else had been here for a long time.

The Rangers worked their way along the wall, examining every inch with the beams from their LED flashlights. Suddenly Chip called out.

"Guys, over here, I think I just found it!"

The others came racing over, and almost immediately, a spot about three feet up the wall was illuminated by the massed crimson beams, showing and inscribed pair of inter-linked, ornate W's.

"Golly, a quadrupleu!" said Gadget.

There was a massed "Huh?" from the others.

"A pair of w's, that adds up to a quadrupleu, obviously."

"It's also Wonti's style." added Arthur. "Question is, how do we get up there to examine it…"

Zipper bugled, and flew up. He buzzed around it for a moment, examining the brick, then backed off and shoulder charged it. He rebounded, and floated down into Monty's arms, momentarily dazed. But he shook himself, and started buzzing, taking a bit of stick and pretending to drag it along the ground.

Monty was the first to figure out what he was saying. "Looks like me little pally's seen some scratches around the brick…"

"It slides in, probably a push button for a secret door." Chip said, nodding. "But it looks like it needs more force than Zipper can apply…"

"Aw, if Foxy were here, she could do it easy." stated Dale, loyally.

"Well since she isn't we'll have to find some other way." stated Chip.

Gadget was conferring with Monty and the recovered Zipper. "I think I have a solution… but we need a projectile…"

"I wanna help too!" stated Dale.

Gadget nodded, "Yes, you'll do perfectly." Monty stepped over and picked him up bodily. "Remember to turn and hit it feet first…"

"Hey! What's going on?" the red nosed chipmunk squeaked.

"Don't worry mate, I learned to toss cabers from a Hibernian hamster in the Highlands…" Monty took a couple of steps back, and hurled Dale, who arced through the air like a Hawaiian shirted superhero. He recovered from his surprise to tuck and spin in midair, hitting the brick feet first, then rebounding and falling back, head first. Chip stepped in to catch him and did, right on the fedora with a loud bonk. The pair went hyper-elastic, then sprung back into shape, a bit googly eyed, but otherwise none the worse for wear.

Chip, possibly because of the padding from his hat, recovered first. He shook his head to clear it, then looked up at the stubborn block of hardened clay. "Looks like there wasn't enough momentum."

"Five more minutes, mommy…" the still dazed Dale agreed.

Gadget was thinking again, and pulled out her crossbow plunger. "If it's more momentum we need…" She swapped bolts to a harpoon version. "Chip, I need your grappling line."

Chip handed it over, and asked, "What's the plan?"

As Gadget tied the end of Chip's line to her harpoon one, she said, "I put this line up to the roof, you and Dale climb up next to the brick, and the rest of us swing you back and release you, like a pendulum, or door knocker. That should give enough momentum to move the brick. And if it doesn't shift the first time, we simply oscillate the rope repeatedly."

Dale was back to reality, at least as much as he ever was… "I getcha! Looks like where there's a will there's a sway! Still," he added rubbing his head, "I wish you hadn't come up with that plan o-sci-llate."

Marion folded her arms, and commented with an exasperated expression, "I think I liked him better bonked."

Gadget smiled. "Oh, he does grow on you."

Marion added her own postscript. "Rather like mould."

Dale grinned. "Well, I am a fun-guy."

That provoked a mass wince. Gadget fired the plunger into the ceiling, and Chip and Dale swarmed up the line.

The other Rangers and Marion hauled the rope back as far as it would go, and on Gadget's command, whipped it forward. The two chipmunks arced across the tunnel, and slammed feet first, and side by side into the brick, which made a grating sound.

"Again!" called down Chip.

It took three swings, but on the third the block slid in completely, and there was a clanking and whirring. With a creak, an entire section of wall swung back, showering a fine dust of mortar.

Inside a second door was revealed, made of wood and ornately decorated with brass scrollwork. Chip and Dale slid back down to join the others as they regarded the door. In the centre was a brass plaque, with an inscription.

'Well done to you who found this place,

Now one more challenge you must face,

This riddle then you must defeat,

When do ice cream and chocolate meet?'

Below was a brass framed letterbox arrangement with a set of six rollers like a slot machine, and a big brass handle. Rather than symbols, the rollers had random letters on.

"Ice cream and chocolate…" mused Chip. "some sort of dessert where they're both used, obviously. Six letters."

"Choc-ice?" said Gadget, then added, "No too many letters. Oh golly, there are lots of them, but what one does he mean?"

The sound of concentrated cogitation was deafening. Dale, however, reread the last line and suddenly started grinning. "Aw, c'mon! It's obvious, guys. It's a pun!"

Monty nodded, "Roight mate, I was just about to say the same thing…" He ignored Zipper's "Zyeah, zright!" He continued. "Just for everyone else, what is it?"

Dale put on a look of deep thoughtfulness. "There is only one time when ice cream and chocolate meet, or rather, one day…"

Chip winced, having made the connection, and from her expression, Gadget did too.

Dale exclaimed, "Sundae!"

&

Setting the lock and pulling the handle required a bit of ingenuity and a lot of rope use, but in moments they were inside the chamber. Air wells shed shafts of light on the room, revealing a room 20 feet long by 10 feet square. Big, vacuum sealed boxes of Willy Wonti chocolate stood along the edges, making brightly decorated pillars with Easter egg capitals.

Arthur was looking around. "My master's secret vault! He wouldn't even tell me where it was!"

Dale appeared to be in some sort of delighted daze. "Zowie! This place is great!"

Chip put out an arm and grabbed him by the collar, just as he started to run towards the nearest pile. "Whoa Dale, eyes on the prize!"

He pointed at a pedestal at the far end, on which rested a plain wooden box. The pedestal had an inscription.

'You solved my puzzles, found the goal,

And so must be a kindred soul,

My legacy you now receive,

You'll use it wisely, I believe.

Within the Ark lies my first sample,

Read the notes, they should prove ample,

A problem with the composition,

'Sent' me on this last mission.'

Chip turned to Marion and Arthur. "Well, this is it, the Ark of the Chocolate Covered Nut. All we have to do is get the Rangerplane down here and carry away the box and the notes. That should sort old Sugarbritches!"

"Dat will not be necessary! I vill haf mine own look at Vonti's last secret!"

The group turned to the doorway, to see Sugarbottom standing there, hundreds of hamster choc-troopers around his feet, all with rifles. Behind him were a row of Action Guy Bad Guyz APCs and several Action Guy tanks, 'with real repeating rocket action'.

"I would dank you for leading me to it, but as I vill soon be destroyink you, zat would be de vasted effort, hein?"

He motioned and the choc-troopers raced forward, quickly surrounding the group, stuck out in the middle of the open floor. At no time were there less than 10 rifles trained on each of them, and several electric fire starter shock sticks.

"Aww! How did he get here?" Dale complained.

Chip looked over at the two rats, but they looked even more disgusted than the Rangers.

"It vas mine superior human intellect!" stated Sugarbottom, striding forward.

Chip growled, "More likely dumb luck. One of his hamster goons must have gone off into a side tunnel for a trip to the little hamsters room, and heard the noise of the place opening up."

Sugarbottom's expression showed Chip was right on the money. He made a hand motion and one of the guards smacked Chip around the head with a rifle butt.

"Zilence!" He indicated a shipping pallet lying on it's side at the far end of the room. "Tie dem up, good und tight! Dey will zee my greatest victory, as I take vat is rightfully mine own, der chocolate covered nut itself! Zen I vill settle vit all of zem, vit ze hatted von for wrecking mine shop here, und vit ze red nosed von for de ruin of mine plan in Peru."

Arthur shouted out. "You don't need any more nuts, you're nuts enough already! Mr Wonti would never want someone like you to have a secret like that, Harry! He hid it away specifically so people like you couldn't get their grubby little hands on it! And any fame you get from stealing it will be as fake as your accent!"

"Dat is Heinrich, you dunderkopf rat! Vonti alvays liked you best! Vel now it is mine own turn to be laughing last! After I haf gotten the secret chocolate recipe, I vill feed you und you little friends von by von into a food processor, feet first. Ve vill see how you banter ven you are the rodent puree!"

With many "Atchungs" and "Schnells" the guards hamster handled them over to the pallet, and ropes were brought up. Having tied them all securely to the vertical slats, the hamster guards had turned to face Sugarbottom. Zipper, who had dived under Chip's hat at the first sign of trouble, now crept out the back and down behind the strut Chip was bound to, carrying the piece of craft knife Chip always kept under his hat. Chip felt his bonds part, and heard a quiet buzz of success.

"Go free the others…" He whispered. He tried to come up with a plan, but nothing sprung to mind. It seemed like the entire hamster army had come inside to watch their lord and master do his thing. They mostly had rifles, and there were a few manned armoured vehicles with guns that would work well enough against a small animal.

They were hopelessly outnumbered by any standards, and without any resources to act as an equaliser. The best he could come up with was to run while the guards were all distracted by the fat man, and try to retrieve the secret formula later, when security was not so tight. Unfortunately there were a number of hamsters standing in the doorway, and the least commotion would bring the whole shooting match down on them.

Heinrich was reading the instructions. "… read de notes? I vill haf plenty of der time for dat ven I haf der sample. No problem vit de composition vill stop me!"

Chip's head came up. That was what Wonti meant! It explained the quote marks, the word was… Dale was next to him. Chip whispered to his buddy. "Dale! Can chocolate go bad?"

"Uh… shouldn't we be getting outta here!" His friend replied nervously.

"Dale, you're the chocolate expert… Tell me!"

"Well not normally, but if it uses fresh ingredients and no preservatives… some flavorings too have a limited shelf life… and there are sometimes interactions between the nut and the chocolate to worry about. Some of those can be pretty violent." Dale might be a goofball some of the time, but when it came to snack foods he was an expert.

Sugarbottom swept aside the folder of notes on top of the box, and reached down to open it.

"Uh oh! Everyone! Hold your noses and take a deep breath!" Chip hissed.

The Rangers were all free by this time, and looked to their leader in confusion. He exclaimed, "Do it!"

The nearest hamsters had heard them, but only spared them a glance, being too caught up in seeing their glorious leader doing his thing.

"Und now! The new flavour of chocolate vill be mine!" he screamed triumphantly and lifted the lid.

Whooommm! A cloud of greenish smoke blasted out of the box and straight into his face.

"Ach! Himmel…" was all he had time for before he keeled over.

The wave swept out over the hamsters, felling them like wheat. A few turned to run, but they couldn't outrun the cloud, and suffered the same fate.

Then it hit the Rangers. Even with closed off noses, they could smell it, a mercaptan stench like a thousand unwashed jockstraps marinated in sewer water. All of them felt a slight gagging reflex, except for Zipper, who was taking deep breaths and clearly enjoying them.

Fortunately the cloud was weaker this far out, though plenty strong enough to knock out anyone who was breathing. It dissipated as quickly as it spread, disappearing through the light wells and open door. The Rangers and the Ravenfurs were the only ones left standing.

"Golly, what happened?" exclaimed Gadget.

Marion nodded, "That's what I'd like to know. Was it some sort of booby trap left by Wonti?"

Arthur shook his head. "Mr Wonti was never like that. The inscription said we were welcome to the recipe. He wouldn't have said one thing and done another."

"Well Chip figured it out, the sample of chocolate musta gone bad over the years." Dale explained. He sighed. "And I was looking forward to trying it."

Monty turned to the chipmunk in the hat. "Yeah, 'ow did you figure it out? Looks loike if we'd not been 'olding our breaths, we'd be loike them drongos."

"It was the inscription, as Dale said. Wonti left a clue, maybe without really thinking about it. I guess he was really worried when he wrote it. He'd obviously figured out this decomposition problem, and couldn't find a solution.

"Arthur, you said he was a perfectionist. If he couldn't solve the problem, there's no way he would let something half done be his final released work. That's why he set this whole thing up, the riddles, the locks, everything. He wanted someone capable of carrying on his work to find the recipe and complete it. Does that sound about right?"

Arthur's mouth was open. "Blooming Ada! Of course, that's it!"

"When Willy Wonti wrote the rhyme, he was thinking 'decomposition' and wrote 'the composition'. When Heinie spoke the words that fake accent nailed it. Then I realised why the word 'sent' was in quotes, it was phonetic. Sent… scent, the decomposition would produce a bad smell. Though I didn't expect it to be quite that bad, I thought we'd have a better chance of bailing while everyone was distracted by it."

Dale looked around, "Uh, that's all very well, but shouldn't we grab the recipe, then make like a hill and slope on outta here? I don't fancy being around when they wake up."

It was too late, one of the nearest hamsters was stirring. He sat up, facing away from them. "Ohhhh… what are they puttin' in the feed?" There was no trace of a German accent. "Hey, what am I doing… oh no!" He raced over to the nearest hamster and knelt by him, shaking him. "Joe! Wake up! Speak to me!"

Chip whispered to Gadget, "Maybe it won't be a problem…"

"Scent can be a powerful memory stimulant. It looks like the dreadful smell has somehow reset their memories, wiping Sugarbottom's conditioning."

"But what about Sugarbottom himself?"

"From the intensity of the initial cloud and the time to recovery of the others, I would estimate he'll be out for 2 hours, 13 minutes and… 54 seconds."

'Joe' was also beginning to stir.

"Uh… Barry? What's with the fancy dress…" He sat up and saw the Rangers, and it seemed to spring some memory in him. His eyes widened and he stuttered, "No… but that was just some kinda nightmare…"

Barry now turned, and Chip realised this was the same hamster who had beaned him in the jaw with a rifle butt.

"oh… What have we been doing?" The hamster was near to freaking out.

Chip stepped forward and took charge. Despite the fact that there were rifles lying all over the place, he somehow didn't think there'd be much of a threat anymore.. paws at his sides and open, he said,

"Calm down, and sit down, and I'll explain."

While Gadget went off with Monty to check Sugarbottom really was out for the count, Chip filled them in on the hypnosis machine, and their prior experiences with the big faker. More hamsters were waking up and listening in, and by the time he'd finished, he had quite a crowd.

There seemed to be a general air of relief that they'd been hypnotised at the time, and therefore weren't responsible for their actions. Many of them were remembering things they really wished they hadn't about rounding up and pushing around the slave workforce. The uniforms went by the board almost immedately, along with the armbands. But it was clear many of them were feeling guilty, and wanted to make up for their actions.

"Y'know, maybe there is a way…" Chip mused.

&

The city newspaper took up half the floorspace of the tree-house main room. The banner headline screamed, 'Willy Wonti's greatest work!' with the sub heading, 'Proceeds from new flavour of chocolate to go to children and animal charities. '

It explained how the late, great chocolate maker and philanthropist, Willy Wonti had put his last invention in the hands of trusted associates to be delivered to an attorney with instructions on how it was to be handled. He had also sent out crates of chocolate to various charities. Already Wonti original chocolate bars were selling at auction for ridiculous prices.

Chip looked up at Gadget, grinning. "Looks like your genius workaround tested out."

The mouse inventor smiled back. "Well… golly… I may not be a chocolate expert, but as a problem in organic chemistry, finding a flavourless stabilising agent wasn't that hard. After all it was simply a matter of recombining the tertiary hydroxyl cluster with a non-polar bonding agent…"

"Mates! We got another one!" Monty was standing on a different part of the paper. "Listen 'ere!"

Marion was standing by him and read it out in her precise English voice.

"'Cook-oo chocolate maker permanently out to lunch – Harold Sugarbottom, a.k.a Heinrich Von Sugarbottom, was committed to the Pleasant Palms Mental Institute today. This colourful character was originally found locked in his own kitchen, raving about marching hamsters and flying chipmunks ruining everything. Evidence of large numbers of animals were found, but the animals themselves were not. However, several crates of pet hamsters arrived at various pet shops in the Mega Mall the same day.

"Investigation by health authorities suggested that he was trying to train animals to run his chocolate making machinery, or be some form of army. He claimed to be able to understand them and had even gone so far as to steal uniforms and toy vehicles from shops in the new Mega-mall. He also laid claim to the discovery of Willy Wonti's last recipe. He was initially charged with public health offences and several counts of theft and animal cruelty, but was eventually transferred for psychological evaluation.'"

Chip chuckled, "It's not like the guy doesn't need it. He wanted the chocolate covered nut, now he's in with the mixed nuts instead." That raised a giggle from Gadget.

Arthur came limping in. "Marion, our pigeon's here!"

"Coming, grandfather. Just have to say some goodbyes." She walked over to Chip and gave him a hug. "Thank you for helping me when I needed it." She matched it with one to Gadget and Monty, also Zipper.

Chip returned the hug, in a friendly manner. "It's what we do. So you and your grandfather are going to visit England?"

"Yes, we have albatross tickets booked already. Now he doesn't have to guard Wonti's legacy, he can do some travelling. I'll get some research done for my degree, and grandfather will get to visit his old home." She looked around. "I wanted to say goodbye to Dale too, we'd never have found the vault without him. He may make bad puns, but he's a good guy."

Chip smirked, pointing a paw at the couch, from which you could hear a groaning noise.

"After the hamsters helped move half the crates to the woodlands to make up for the winter food stores their ex-slaves had missed collecting, and helped us post out the others, there was one crate left…"

They looked over the seat back. There lay a groaning Dale, stomach bulging to the point of being spherical. Zipper was sitting on the seat back, fanning him.

"I said he deserved to have the crate for his good work." He sighed. "I didn't mean he should eat it in one sitting!"

"Ohh… but the chocolate, it was so nice…" Dale moaned.

"Will he be alright?" Marion said, worried.

"Yeah, he's done this a couple of times before, no permanent harm done."

Arthur came over and gave everyone firm handshakes. "Fare well everyone. Thank you for rescuing me and giving an old mouse one last adventure."

Monty exclaimed, "No worries mate, me old dad's gotta be older and he's still having loads of 'em."

Arthur turned to Chip. "You and your friends are a pretty impressive bunch."

Chip grinned, "I know. Look at Dale, unless he goes on a diet, he'll leave some big impressions wherever he steps."

"I heard that!" came Dale's voice from the couch. "I wish I'd thought of it…"

Chip shook his head. "No, I agree, I couldn't be blessed with a better team, or better friends. All of them." He looked around.

There was a loud Brooklyn accented squawking from outside. Arthur glanced at the door. "Our ride's getting impatient. Goodbye, chaps." Marion echoed it as they went out the main door.

"Another case solved." Chip sighed. He looked over at Gadget. "You know the samples of Wonti's chocolate, the ones that still smelled? What did you do with them?"

"Well, after I'd analysed them, Dale asked for them."

Chip looked down at the red nosed 'munk. "Okay, so what did you do with them?"

Dale grinned despite the stomach ache. "It's being looked at, or rather smelled by top men... or rather a top cat. I hope he likes the card."

Across town, Fat Cat preened as Mole placed a small, but beautifully wrapped box on his desk.

"So, this is a sample of the new candy that's been in the newspapers?"

Mole was drooling slightly and looking wistfully at the box. "Hmm… candy!"

"A feeble attempt to curry favour from one of my associates, no doubt. But somewhat out of date. The wretched Rangers closed down my operation stealing candy from babies. Still, since it isn't in the shops yet, this should make a tidy profit in the right market…"

He reached down to open the box.

From the outside, the giant cat that sat on top off the cat food factory appeared to sneeze green smoke.

There was coughing and spluttering, and Fat Cat's voice could be heard saying. "What! 'Roses are red, Violets are blue, a life of crime stinks, and so do you! Love, the Rescue Rangers…'… Blast those wretched rodents!"

****

Closing RR sting, which then segues into the Rescue Ranger theme tune played as a march, in the style of a certain action adventure movie.


End file.
